Amphicoelias
Amphicoelias was a large sauropod dinosaur that lived in the Late Jurassic of North America. One species, A. fragillimus, may be the largest dinosaur so far discovered. Description Both species of Amphicoelias are known from incomplete remains. In general, the genus is similar in body shape to Diplodocus, although Amphicoelias has proportionally longer forelimbs. The type species, A. altus, is estimated to have measured about 25 meters in length, similar in size to Diplodocus. However,'' A. fragillimus'', which was known only from an incomplete vertebra, may have reached lengths of almost 60 meters, larger than any other dinosaur by far.Carpenter, K. (2006). "Biggest of the big: a critical re-evaluation of the mega-sauropod Amphicoelias fragillimus." In Foster, J.R. and Lucas, S.G., eds., 2006, Paleontology and Geology of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 36: 131–138. Classification Edward Drinker Cope placed the two Amphicoelias species in their own family, but it is now generally accepted that they are part of the family Diplodocidae. It was first suggested by Henry Fairfield Osborn that A. fragillimus was merely a large example of the type species A. altus. Currently, the two are treated as separate species.Osborn, H.F., and Mook, C. C. (1921). "Camarasaurus, Amphicoelias and other sauropods of Cope." Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History NS, 3(3): 249–387. In 2007, John Foster suggested that Amphicoelias and Diplodocus were actually synonymous genera. Since Amphicoelias was named earlier, Diplodocus would have to be abandoned in favor of the older name (a similar situation occurred with the genera Apatosaurus and "Brontosaurus").Foster, J. (2007). Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World. Indiana University Press. This suggestion has not been adopted by other researchers. In 2010, a monograph arose that suggested all diplodocid species from the Morrison Formation were actually Amphicoelias specimens in various stages of growth.Galiano, H. and Albersdorfer, R. "A new basal diplodocid species, Amphicoelias brontodiplodocus, from the Morrison Formation, Big Horn Basin, Wyoming, with taxonomic reevaluation of Diplodocus, Apatosaurus, and other genera." Dinosauria International, LLC. 44pp. Published online 2010. Such a classification has not been widely accepted, and the paper has yet to be formally published.Mike Taylor. "The elephant in the living room: Amphicoelias brontodiplodocus". Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week. History The type species, A. altus, was named by Edward Drinker Cope in 1877 (though not published until 1878).Cope, E.D. (1878a). "On the Vertebrata of the Dakota Epoch of Colorado." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 17: 233–247. He also named a second species, A. latus, in the same paper, but it is now generally regarded to be a synonym of A. altus. An extremely large sauropod vertebra was uncovered by one of Cope's fossil collectors in Colorado during 1878. Although in poor condition, Cope described it as A. fragillimus and noted its unusual size. Though he believed that the rocks in which the bone was found were of Cretaceous age, it is now known that they are part of the Morrison Formation, a Jurassic-age site.Turner, C.E., and Peterson, F. (1999) "Biostratigraphy of dinosaurs in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of the Western Interior, U.S.A." In. Gillette, D., ed., Vertebrate Paleontology in Utah: Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication, 99(1): 77–114. Since then, however, the bone disappeared, and all attempts to locate it have failed.McIntosh, J.S. (1998) "New information about the Cope collection of sauropods from Garden Park, Colorado." In Carpenter, K., Chure, D. and Kirkland, J.I., eds., The Morrison Formation: an interdisciplinary study: Modern Geology, 23: 481–506. The bone itself was very fragile and the rock it was preserved in fragmented easily, so Cope may have simply discarded the fossil after he had described it. Paleobiology In his 2006 redescription of Amphicoelias, Ken Carpenter argued that ferns were likely a dominant source of nutrition for this animal. Though this suggestion had previously been refuted by earlier papers,Engelmann, G.F., Chure, D.J., and Fiorillo, A.R. (2004). "The implications of a dry climate for the paleoecology of the fauna of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation." In Turner, C.E., Peterson, F., and Dunagan, S.P., eds., Reconstruction of the extinct ecosystem of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation: Sedimentary Geology, 167: 297–308 Carpenter believed that the digestive system of sauropods was adapted for processing low-quality foods such as ferns. References Category:Animals Category:Dinosaurs Category:Sauropods Category:Herbivores Category:Fossil taxa described in 1878